MUSIC TO HER EARS

Early on in rehearsals for 1996's Jerry Maguire, Zellweger was still in financial trouble from her years of struggling as an actress. Costar Tom Cruise (at an L.A. party in 1998) surprised Zellweger for her 27th birthday by buying her an expensive stereo system. "He did all this research to find out what I wanted," she recalls.